News Release

​Chicago, London, Singapore

Asian Markets Dominate Top Ten Most Expensive Global Office Locations

2016-02-25T06:00:00Z

​JLL reveals the price of renting premium office space around the world

​Chicago, London, Singapore, 25 February, 2016 – Six of the top ten most expensive cities for office rentals are in Asia, according to a new report from JLL that compares like-for-like occupation costs across 24 cities around the world. JLL’s Premium Office Rent Tracker ranks Established World Cities such as New York and London, Emerging World Cities like Shanghai, Dubai and Mumbai, and New World Cities such as San Francisco, Boston and Toronto.

The Tracker confirms Hong Kong is the world’s costliest office rental market on a net basis as well as including added costs such as service charges and property tax. Occupancy costs for premium office space in the city have reached US$262 per square foot while vacancy in its Central submarket has fallen to 1.2 percent. This extreme shortage of high-quality space coupled with robust tenant demand, notably from Chinese companies, is driving up rents.

The most expensive office locations (US$/s.f./year)

Source: JLL

Gavin Morgan, Vice Chairman with JLL said, “Hong Kong, London and New York continue to edge out most other global office markets in terms of their desirability, but as other world cities start to compete successfully for global office demand, the top-tier markets will have to be bold in their urban transformation to remain competitive.”

Despite economic headwinds, tenant demand in the world’s dominant office markets is robust and many corporates are firmly in expansion mode. Competition for space is intensifying as vacancy rates are pushed to new lows in many core central business districts. Low single-digit vacancy rates are in place in Hong Kong Central, as well as Tokyo’s Marunouchi, Singapore’s Raffles Place, London’s West End and Shanghai’s Pudong submarkets.

Resilient tenant demand in China

Demand for premium office space in China’s Tier 1 cities has been remarkably resilient, pushing occupancy costs in Beijing and Shanghai to new heights as they become the world’s third and fifth most expensive cities to lease premium office space. “Although economic growth in China is slowing, the country’s transformation toward a service-focused economy is having a positive impact on its major urban office markets,” explained Chris Archibold, International Director with JLL. “Demand for office space in Shanghai is at record levels with strong activity by domestic firms – particularly in the finance and tech sectors.”

Global climbers

The world’s dominant office markets need to continually adapt to new economic forces in order attract and generate new demand. The technology, media and telecommunications sectors, for example, are edging into premium office space alongside financial and professional services, pushing cities such as San Francisco up the global cost ranking. This city now ranks eighth in JLL’s Premium Office Rent Tracker.

“Cities can no longer depend solely on traditional sectors like financial or legal services to buoy their office markets and maintain their standing as top commercial destinations,” explained Neil Prime, JLL’s Head of UK Office Agency. “The surge in technology and new media has changed the business landscape and the way people think about office environments particularly in attracting the best talent. If the long-standing premier markets do not provide appropriate environments to attract this talent they will come under increased pressure from New World Cities like Boston, Sydney and Amsterdam that also offer cost advantages for businesses.”

Nonetheless, Established World Cities such as Paris and Tokyo are working hard to improve their attraction as global business locations. The Grand Paris project, which will see the development of more than 200 kilometers of new metro lines, will transform the city’s footprint. Meanwhile Tokyo is gearing up for the 2020 Summer Olympics with new infrastructure, new real estate and renewed vigor that will help the city make up for lost ground as a premier business hub.

Premium Office Rent Tracker (US$/s.f./year)

Source: JLL

​About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. A Fortune 500 company with annual fee revenue of $5.2 billion and gross revenue of $6.0 billion, JLL has more than 230 corporate offices, operates in more than 80 countries and has a global workforce of more than 60,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet, or 372 million square meters, and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $56.4 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated.

In Russia and CIS JLL has offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev. JLL, Russia & CIS was voted Consultant of the Year in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 at the Commercial Real Estate Awards, Moscow; Consultant of the Year at the Commercial Real Estate Awards 2009, St. Petersburg; Consultant of the Year at the RCSC Awards in 2015, and The Best Real Estate Consultancy in Ukraine at the Ukrainian Property Awards in 2013.​